Impact: A Year In

This short film captures the on-ground impacts triggered by Prakriye’s Dhwanigalu project, an ICT-mediated capacity-building programme that aimed at strengthening the agency, autonomy and leadership potential of adolescent girls in rural Mysore. Girls who participated in the project recount how the training sessions and activities made them question social norms on gender that they had assumed as naturally ordained — such as the right of the male family member to make household level decisions; and marriage as the inevitable destiny for all girls. Mothers of participants shared their pride and joy in seeing their daughters grow in self-confidence. Teachers of the village school speak about the importance of bringing into the open discussions on reproductive health. A government official who attended the felicitation ceremony of the project shares the importance of such efforts. Take a look at our website for details.

More from the kishoris and their families…

I feel it is important for girls to be able to move around and travel freely. In a recent Kishori Gram Sabha meeting, I raised issues regarding safe mobility for girls and the need for improvement in public infrastructure. After the sabha (meeting) all the elders questioned whether how I could be so vocal in the meeting, and I told them that the sessions and activities conducted by thePrakriye team have been very informative. After attending the trainings, I know that I have the freedomto express and the right to demand for basic necessities.

– Shweta (Kishori)

I dropped out of school after grade 11, my marriage is fixed and my parents are waiting to marry me away as soon as I turn eighteen. Like my parents, I also thought that marriage was more important than career or employment. After the training given to us by the Prakriye team, I felt that this was not the ultimate thing in life, its better to be independent even after marriage. The Prakriye team counseled me regarding the various professions I could take up. I have decided that I want to learn tailoring and my parents have agreed to send me to a tailoring school.

-Dhanlakshmi (Kishori)

After attending the various sessions provided by thePrakriye team, Ihave seen my daughter transform into a diligent student, she has more clarity onthe electives she wants to take up after her 10th exams. She tells us about benefits of living in a clean environment and has picked healthy personal hygiene habits.

-Rachna’s Father

When our daughter started attending the sessions provided by thePrakriye team, we were unsure of what would come out of it. But one day after the training she came home and informed us about the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that guarantees 100 days of work, and the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act that provides for temporary employees to draw wages at par with permanent employees for similar duties and functions. As insisted by her we approached the Panchayat office and got our job cards made. We are earning more and living a better life now.

-Nirmala’s Parents

Dhwanigalu

Dhwanigalu is our ongoing initiative to build agency, autonomy and leadership among young people in the margins. We began in 2016, with the support of the South Asia Women’s Fund (SAWF) initiating a year-long capacity-building program for strengthening the agency, autonomy and leadership of 85 adolescent girls in rural Mysore. Combining traditional and technology-mediated learning methodologies such as digital story telling, photo-essays, role-plays, simulation exercises and debates, we trigger learning dialogues at the grassroots.

Going forward, we plan to expand our work in this domain with dialogues for building the perspectives and capabilities of adolescent girls and boys, to question social norms that reinforce gender based discrimination, and cultures of violence. This is through our project – Namma Maathu, Namma Jaaga- a larger initiative working towards tackling the issue of gender justice and domestic violence.